There was an instant silence in the cave.

Zhu Yanjin put away his knife, glanced at the direction of Zhang Qi's escape, and found that Zhang Qi had already run away.

He returned to the fire and found only a cold corpse, the boy had frozen to death, the fire was still burning, but the man was not breathing.

Zhuyan Jin stood still for a while, looking at the blood on his hands and the boy's corpse, sighed helplessly, and then led the two horses out of the cave.

The sky was slightly bright, and the light of dawn was sprinkled in the snow little by little.

In the early morning, Zhang Laoweng pulled Xiaozhu and walked back to the village with a tired face, obviously sleepless all night, they looked for Zhuyan Jin all night, and their hearts were very anxious.

Thinking of the fate of the noble son who came to the village to spend the night a few times ago, Zhang Laoweng felt uneasy in his heart, God bless, bless the safety of good people.

At this time, several black dots appeared in the distance, and the black dots gradually became larger, it was Zhu Yanjin, who was riding a horse, followed by another one.

"Childe, it's Childe!"

Xiaozhu screamed excitedly, and she ran towards Zhuyan Jin, like a nimble rabbit, leaving a string of small footprints in the snow.

She ran, ran, and was mixed with something, and her whole body fell into the snow.

"It hurts, woo......"

Xiaozhu stood up, rubbed his little head, and cried quietly, it really hurt.

At this moment, Zhu Yanjin had already arrived in front of her, he gently wiped the snow from Xiaozhu's forehead, and smiled happily: "Why are you running in such a hurry, I don't run." ”

When the little girl saw Zhu Yanjin, she immediately wiped her tears, puffed up, like an angry little rooster, and pouted: "Childe, where did you go last night? ”

Zhu Yanjin saw the tiredness on Zhang Laoweng and Xiaozhu's faces, guessed that they had been looking for him all night, and felt a little guilty in his heart, he touched Xiaozhu's head:

"I'm sorry, I've gone to run some errands, let's go back. ”

As he spoke, he put Xiaozhu on the horse and went back to the village with Zhang Laoweng.

In the afternoon, Zhu Yanjin stood alone in the courtyard, trying to absorb the aura around him, trying to convert the aura into spiritual power.

Yesterday's events made him understand that when the crisis came, his greatest reliance was on his own strength, rather than the protection of others.

Thinking of Xiaozhu's concern, and her trust in herself. This unconditional trust rekindled Zhu Yanjin's fighting spirit, and he didn't want to live up to this trust.

He is not willing to live mediocre.

I must continue to practice and return to my former cultivation, and I can't be a waste person who can't be protected by anyone.

However, the aura disappeared instantly as soon as it entered the body, and Zhu Yanjin used his divine sense to explore every corner of his body, but he still couldn't find the disappeared aura.

He tried hundreds of times today and failed.

Practitioners divide cultivation into ten realms, the first nine realms are one whirlpool to nine whirlpools, representing the cultivation of increasing in turn, and the tenth realm is called Tianque, which has only been reached by a few people since ancient times.

One of the vortex realms represents the beginning of the practice, and the criterion for judging the vortex realm is the transformation of the absorbed spiritual energy into spiritual power that can be used for oneself, which is the basis of the practice.

A cultivator who can't convert aura into spiritual power is a joke.

Zhu Yanjin sighed, forget it, let's think of other ways.

The little bamboo cat came to the yard with a small head and a jacket: "Childe, it's cold outside, don't freeze." ”

She padd her little feet and put the jacket on Zhuyan Jin with her own hands.

"Xiaozhu, I want to ask you something, how is the village chief?"

After a series of events, Zhu Yanjin gradually felt that there was something strange in the village, and it was rare to see young and strong men in the whole village.

In addition, Zhang Qi is the nephew of the village chief, who made waves in the village, and the village chief did not discipline him, but the villagers respected the village chief very much.

Something is wrong, it stands to reason that such a village chief has already caused public outrage.

"The village chief's grandfather is a good person, he never loses his temper, and every time he goes to Pingzhou City, he will bring us candy. ”

"Zhang Qi is in trouble, aren't you angry with the village chief?"

"The village chief's grandfather is a good person, he often reprimands Zhang Qi, and every New Year's holiday, he will pay for the whole village by himself, and every family has a share. ”

It turned out that he used money to buy people's hearts, and even the children were bought with candy, which was a bit interesting for the village chief.

Zhu Yanjin said lightly: "I have traveled all over the village, the villagers live by hunting, and they are not rich, why is the village chief's family the only one who has money to help you, where did his money come from?"

Although Xiaozhu is simple-minded, he can also hear the doubts about the character of the village chief in Zhuyan Jin's words.

She didn't want to see Zhu Yanjin questioning the village chief's personality, but she couldn't think of a reason to refute it, so she could only be in a hurry, and her face turned red.

Zhu Yanjin was angry and funny when he saw the little girl like this, he grabbed Xiaozhu and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I believe that the village chief is not a wicked person, it's cold outside, don't get frostbitten, let's go into the house." ”

Although he said so, Zhu Yanjin still doubted the village chief in his heart, and he had seen a lot of wolves in sheep's clothing.

That night, a dark shadow staggered into the village chief's house.

The village chief lit the candles, looked at Zhang Qi, who was scarred in front of him, and said in disgust: "I didn't do it, but I made myself like this, I didn't succeed enough, and I lost more than I did." ”

Zhang Qi was like a water dog, embarrassed, and sighed in a low voice: "Uncle, there is a reason for this miss, that son's identity is definitely not ordinary, he persuaded the horse bandit in a few words." ”

The village chief touched his beard, thought for a while, and said, "You say, who are the horse bandits most afraid of?"

"Of course it's a soldier, a few years ago, officers and soldiers came to the Northern Regions to suppress bandits several times. ”

The village chief continued: "Then, whose hands is the Pingzhou army in its hands. ”

"Believe in the King's Mansion. Zhang Qi blurted out, and then looked frightened, "Could it be that he is ......?"

"That's right, he's probably someone who believes in the palace. ”

Zhang Qi sat down on the ground all of a sudden, and in Pingzhou and the Northern Regions, there was a consensus that there was only one way to kill if he offended the Xinwang Mansion.

Suddenly, Zhang Qi sensed a murderous aura, and he looked up to see the village chief's expression indifferent, his eyes like torches.

Zhang Qi hurriedly stepped back, his heart was extremely cold, he understood that as long as he died, Xinwang Fujiu would not be able to trace the village chief, and behind his back, the things he did for the village chief would be buried forever.

Zhang Qi knew that he was not the opponent of the village chief, so he could only kneel and beg for mercy: "Uncle, spare my nephew's life, I did it alone, it has nothing to do with you, you can let me live." ”

The village chief's hand shrunk behind his back has begun to gather spiritual power, he knows very well that only by killing Zhang Qi can he truly be done once and for all, and keeping him will be a hidden disaster, and only the dead are the most worthy of trust.

Seeing that Zhang Qi was about to die at the hands of the village chief, a young man in his twenties walked out, he was Zhang Qian, the only son of the village chief.

The village elder came to have a son, and he was obedient and spoiled by this son.

Zhang Qian picked up Zhang Qi and said to the village chief: "Father, my cousin is my own family, and I have done so many things for the family, so you can give him a chance." ”

Zhang Qian knew what his father and Zhang Qi were doing behind his back very early, he had no friends since he was a child, and he only had fun with Zhang Qi's cousin, and he had a deep friendship.

"Qian'er, if you don't kill him, we'll be in trouble. ”

In the face of his son's dissuasion, the village chief did not waver in his determination to kill Zhang Qi.

"Father, great things are coming, with the help of my cousin, we can avoid a lot of trouble, besides, after the day after tomorrow, we can get a large sum of money, leave the Northern Regions together, go to other places in the Central Plains, and live again, no matter how powerful the Xinwang Mansion is, it is impossible to control the entire Central Plains. ”

"Yes, yes, let's change our identities and live a happy life. Zhang Qi echoed.

Zhang Qian continued: "As for that son, the child has a way, the day after tomorrow, borrow the hand of the great wizard and get rid of him, the great wizard is from the Western Regions, and he is not afraid to believe in the palace." ”

The village chief was silent for a while, very entangled in his heart, it would be dangerous to keep Zhang Qihui, but he was unwilling to refute his son's face, thinking about it carefully, what his son said did make some sense.

In the end, he compromised, nodded, and let Zhang Qi go.

The next day, the red-faced wizard came to the village, arranged tomorrow's rituals, and informed everyone in the village to come to the village chief's house to discuss matters, and by the way, to exorcise evil spirits for the village.

It is said that when the red-faced wizard first came to the village, he saved the village from a disaster, and since then, the villagers have revered the shaman, believing that the shaman is the messenger of the gods and can convey the instructions of the gods.

At noon, Zhu Yanjin followed Zhang Laoweng and Xiaozhu to the village chief's house.

The lobby was crowded with people, and the villagers were booing each other and chatting lively.

Zhu Yanjin saw Zhang Qi in the crowd at a glance.

Zhang Qi also saw Zhu Yanjin, and he glared at Zhu Yanjin fiercely, his eyes full of hatred.

Zhang Qi secretly said in his heart: Your death time has come, the archmage has agreed to get rid of you, the archmage is a master, and it will definitely be easy to clean up a down-and-out son.

Suddenly, the lobby fell silent, and the red-faced wizard and the village chief walked to the middle of the hall.

Everyone bowed down towards the red-faced wizard, and Zhu Yanjin had no choice but to kneel down and blend in with the crowd.

Then, the red-faced wizard waved a few colored flags, chanting words in his mouth, and for a while the cold wind gusted.

The villagers all knelt reverently, not daring to make a sound, and waited quietly for the great wizard to cast a spell.

In a few moments, the snow on the ground drifted, and the snowflakes gradually gathered around the red-faced wizard, hovering around him, and disappearing into the sky.

Zhuyan Jin looked at it in surprise, he felt the spiritual power released by the red-faced wizard, and there was a strong evil aura, which evil sect was this expulsion, he himself was the biggest evil.

Zhu Yanjin turned his eyes and saw Zhang Qi on the other side with a smug expression, and there was a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart.

After a while, the red-faced wizard finished his exorcism, put away the bunting, and then he took out a cyan jar and placed it in the hall.

When the villagers looked up, they panicked, and saw that the jar was crawling with all kinds of poisonous snakes, which were entwined together, and spit red letters from their mouths.

The red-faced wizard recited a few more incantations, and then said, "This is the altar of communication with the gods, and according to the guidance of the gods, I will pick one of you and put your hand into the altar to accept the will of the gods." ”